Comments on: Next big PS3 price cut set for April?

Analyst at investment firm Wedbush Morgan is speculating that Sony's $400 80GB PlayStation 3 will get a price reduction of $100 in the spring.

[goodspeed8701]

Cutting the price wont change anything now. Its too late.

[synthetikz]

not a well thought answer really. the reality is that these systems are loss leaders for both sony and microsoft and they were both well aware that they would would take a loss on each console sold. sony's real profit is two fold.

1) they made a conscious decision to take a loss in order to establish Blu-Ray as the next gen media of choice, and succeeded. that alone will years and years of royalty income.

2) playstations have a longer market life than xbox's. point and proof - playstation 2 is still a viable system with units being sold and games created years after xbox 1 was abandoned. that in addition to the fact that this ps3 system is more future proofed than the xbox360 (with much larger game capacities) means that the playstation 3 will probably be generating revenue for years after microsoft has given up on the xbox360.

that's not to say that xbox360 is a bad platform. it's not. but do you really think sony would release a system, knowing it will be generating loss without calculating break-even points and tangential benefit? it just makes you sound like a fanboy.

[goodspeed8701]

People bought the PS2 cos of its success, the PS3 is a big looser in this case. Blue ray is not the answer of this generation console as I fail to see much larger games coming out of the blueray apart from MSG4 etc.

Your point has no fact. PS3 is too expensive and people are now buying cheaper Blueray stand alone players and most of them are not game lovers.

Xbox360 has more marketshare and more support from 3rd party so why do you think it has longer market life than Xbox360. People tend to upgrade after 4 or 6 years of the last gen console. So, it will be wise if playstation comes out to stores early before their rivals and stop thinking they will sell because PS2 sell well. I am not a fan boy. i choose the best.

Have you played PES2008 on PS3 and Xbox360? try it and tell me which experience is better.

[iconoclast04]

Actually, I think MS may be making a profit on consoles now...even with the price drops.

[Notoapplefanbois]

Xbox 360 cut to $250 eh? Even then it's still cheaper in the UK at the exchange rates now.

Oh well, I think it's time to start saving for the next gen console's.

[bluelight421]

i love how some of you take the side of your particular console of choice and then initiate a beating of the other systems on the market. Lets get something straight, unless you have owned or currently own a PS3, or have plans to buy one, your opinion means very little in this subject. I am not here to start an argument or get beaten down by sony, microsoft, or nintendo fanboys, but i am honestly just amazed how many people speak without thinking. Each console has its ups and downs and none are perfect by far. I own all three and I can safely say that I log most of my gaming hours with my Xbox 360. Thats not to say that it is superior to the other two...resistance and mgs4 are both fantastic PS3 games, and we all know what kind of enjoyment you can get out of swinging that good 'ol wiimote around the room.

But lets face it... a consoles install base makes or breaks a users experience because to put it simply... if nobody you know has the console except for you, then the interactive experience of the console and its games can never reach its full potential.

Developers have yet to provide enough exclusive content for Sony to sell this beast of a machine at its current price point. So I think a price cut is exactly what the PS3 needs to survive in this market, and this will allow people to get the full experience from the console. Good move Sony!

[vics_lee]

Blu ray is not yet the media of choice. For movies, the market is still dominated by torrent sites that allow you to dowload movies. Blu rays are still too expensive. Not only that, for gaming, the PS3 has not demonstrated any abilty to be better in graphics then the 360 when they are compared with the same games side by side..as a matter of fact the 360 games play, feel and look better. And shelf life of the game system is not determined by the hardware, its always determined by the software and licenses it has. Also a fact that Sony takes a much bigger hit for every console it doesnt sell compared to the 360 and WII. It uses a much more complex cpu and contains a blu ray and built in WIFI. So when unit sales are almost comparable, people have to remember that each PS3 unit costs more. i own both systems and i play the 360 90% of the time and rarely even use the PS3 for blu rays...afer i watch a movie in AWE from the amazing picture...it collects dust on my shelf LOL. Havent bought a blu ray since.

[synthetikz]

@ vics_lee. torrent isn't media. it's a file format. media specifically alludes to a physical format in which content can be affixed. while a lot of the things you say in your comment is true (blu-ray's are expensive, torrent DL's are pervasive), it neglects the business aspect of the matter. the fact is that by making blu-ray players integral to ps3 function, and taking a substantial loss per ps3, blu-ray won the format war, which is exactly what sony was aiming to do. no one makes a royalty fee on a torrent, but you can be confident in the fact that sony takes a substantial royalty for its blu-rays.

you also say that blu-rays are still expensive and not that many people buy/rent them, and that's true. but it wont be true forever. like any other burgeoning technology there is an adoption curve that takes time. not to mention that the blu-ray adoption curve is bottle-necked by hdtv adoption (meaning people first have to buy hdtvs before they can even consider a blu-ray player, and there is still a significant portion of the US population that hasn't purchased an HDTV). as hdtv becomes more prominent, and time goes on, blu- ray disc prices will drop (as they do for all tehcnology - dvds for example) blu-ray players will become more prominent, and sony's calculted risk in selling the ps3 at a loss will payoff.

@goodspeed - huh? just because you state an opinion as fact, doesn't mean it is. how about putting some substance to your replies.

[celticbrewer]

@ vics_lee

Blah blah blah, BR is too expensive. It's called renting! Who wants to buy something they'll only watch once or twice? I've had my BR player for almost a year now and have watched dozens and dozens of BR movies and I've never bought a single one.

As to the article, everyone I know who has an xbox360 wants a PS3- they just didn't want to pay the higher price. This price cut will certain result in a sales bump.

[cldmello]

$300 would be sweet .... but maybe it just missed the holiday season ...... they should have been pro-active with their pricing rather than reactive by lowering their prices in response to the low holiday sales

[wackyteen]

they probably wanted to see how well the sale swould be and if they were poor they might consider a price drop for future holiday rushes.

[linyoa]

@wackyteen
your probably right. but renting movies doesn't really get Sony much at all. so how people rent movies is irrelevent.

[Garlidie]

If and when they do cut the price, I am getting one the same day and so will many others. The PS3, though far superior than any game console, is way over price. If you include stuff people want and not need, it should either be included as a bonus or as options. PS3 is not selling as it should, because casual gamers aren't willing to pay for all the extra technology that they aren't gonna use.

[PhaseDMA]

The PS3 is by far the most underpriced piece of gaming hardware on the market. Is it expensive? Without question, but it isn't over priced, and it never has been.

[pwrdbykimchi]

@PhaseDMA

Nicely put and I couldn't agree with you more.

[Notoapplefanbois]

Do you really think it's superior to the other console's? I'll admit in some ways it is but they stole the motion sensing idea off of the Wii, and made a big mistake by going for 256mb GDDR5 and 256mb XDR instead of 512mb of GDDR5 and 256mb of XDR. This meant that the PS3's video output would be lower quality than the xbox 360 and it would cost more.

[extirpator]

@ Notoapplefanbois
Honestly as the owner of both a ps3 and a xbox 360 I can personally tell you hat the ps3 is a far better build console. The Toshiba/Samsung DVD Drives on the 360 lack rubber stoppers on the lens which have been shown to occasionally scratch slightly warped DVD's and Game Discs even if the console is is sitting in a horizontal unmoved position. I have been fortunate so far that my discs that have been scratched only have tiny markings that so far have not affected game loads. I don't waist my time playing DVD's in it as the ps3 is a lot more quite when watching movies. Also the red ring of death is still a potential problem with even the newest Jasper 360's as apparently Microsoft had one Red Ring at this past CES where they supposedly only used Jasper units.

[compudoc318]

i agree, i got an xbox360 when it came out, and now i have pcs and a ps3 as well. since i got the ps3, i only use the xbox for games that the ps3 doesnt have. now i know this comparison is somewhat skewed since a version is made for each, but i have the last madden on both systems, and the ps3 version is way better, hands down. i wish they wouldve come out at the same time, i wouldve only purchased the ps3. not to mention, at first, i didnt care about the blue ray player, but then i got a sweet toshiba 1080p and some hdmi cables...wow, bluray rules, way better sound and pic when its hooked up right.

[rotfwlol]

i have a PSone and it is sick. i recommend it over the PS3. it costs like 10 times less than a PS3. ROFL. FF8 for life =)

[perontopsp]

thats how everybody should go. Forget the newer things, just go old school. Star Fox 64 FTW!!!

[funyun2]

Most products with shaky starts just can't succeed. The Zune had a shaky start, and despite the fact that the new zunes are great, most people just won't get them because they heard that they suck a while ago. This is a similar example because most people still assume the PS3 is too expensive and there are no amazing games, (even though the second thing is true).

[synthetikz]

zune's problem wasn't its shaky start actually. it was competting with apples huge "first-to-market advantage" which any retail economist will tell you goes a very long way in establishing market share.

[Notoapplefanbois]

And that's why the xbox has a lead over the PS3.

[rfelgueiras]

No amazing games? Was Little Big planet not called the game of the year? IGN gave it a 9.5/10, saying "If you own a PlayStation 3, you cannot miss this. If you don?t have a PS3 yet, this is the reason to get one." and Edge gave it a 10/10 and it won it's game of the year. How is that not amazing?

You all also need to keep in mind that BluRay is pivotal tech in this machine. Every game uses the BR disk format, so it's not a feature that can be removed, like wifi. If the Xbox 360 software came on HD DVD disks and the system was launched @ the same time (and not a year and a half before) both systems would be the same price.

btw - I'm not a fanboy, if anything I should be cositered a nintendo fanboy, since that's still my main system. However I was looking at a machine that would play BluyRay and server as a Media Centre and was impressed with what I got.

@ synthetikz - Apple wasn't first to market, Creative was. Apple just did it better.

[David Turner]

@ rfelgueiras Creative wasn't the first to market either http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6450_7-5622055-1.html

[Oneknight]

Notoapplefanbois, the difference between console and music device is huge!!!!! console are depended on games that they release and music are not. So when the average buyer gets a console, its usually due to the game they want to play. that is why xbox is doing well because they have games that alot of people wants to play which the ps3 doesn't have "yet" except for one hrmmmm(MGD4). MP3 market is not depended on music playability since you can listen to any music in any mp3s. therefore the only things that makes people decide which mp3 they should get is due to popularity, attractiveness and originallity of the device itself, all of which ipods have. Another reason would be that in terms of console, there is only 3 in the market (excluding pc), and mp3 has thousands.

[jon_cnet]

funyun2, no amazing games huh? Gee, just to name some exclusives, how about Uncharted, Heavenly Sword, Metal Gear Solid 4, Little Big Planet just to name a few. And that doesn't even mention the great multi-platform games like Oblivion, Fallout 3, Grand Theft Auto 4. There are so many more that I haven't even mentioned and what about next year? Uncharted 2, Killzone 2, God of War 3 are all EXCLUSIVE to PS3. Killzone 2 will CLEARLY show that there is no other console equivalent as far as processing power.

And funny that you mentioned that products that have shaky starts never succeed. I remember a couple that had shaky starts and were lagging the competition before it completely destroyed and dominated the industry. What were they called? Oh, just the PS1 and PS2. Enough said!

[zoser42]

I'm pretty sure he knows about MGS4. Those games aren't really that amazing. MGS4 was a huge let down, more style than actual substance. It's ALWAYS about the NEXT year for the ps3...when is it going to be about NOW? I thought 2008 was going to be THE year for ps3, didn't quite turn out that way did it? After MGS4 boosted sales, the rest of the year kind of fizzled out. The exclusive big titles have nearly been all hype and haven't panned out so far, just how do you believe these 2009 titles will be somehow magically different? Killzone 2...seriously? GoW 3 perhaps, but there still are not very many truly great games exclusive to the ps3, even now.
The best thing about the ps3 is the bonus blueray player. Period. Even having blueray is not helping. Blueray may have won the format war, but they forgot one thing, people are going digital. Owning the physical dvd is becoming less and less common as people get their movies through various online sites.

Don't get me wrong, I sound rather negative, but the ps3 is a good machine and does have some decent games...but not enough for my money. And obviously I'm not the only one who feels that way, as sales clearly prove that.

The difference between the ps1, ps2 and the ps3's start in sales is that back then, they did not have the competition they do now. Not selling fast out of the gate was not a problem. The ps1 was also too expensive when it launched. It wasn't until several price drops that the system took off. It also helped that the N64 had it's own problems and the Saturn was nearly dead on arrival. The ps2 only had to deal with Dreamcast. It had massive amounts of hype and killed Sega's console business almost on hype alone. Both the old xbox and gamecube launched a full year after the ps2. Another thing to note is that both the ps1 and ps2 were less powerful than their competition, but easily won. So saying the ps3 is the most powerful...nobody cares. The old xbox was vastly superior to the ps2, giving people built in online, better graphics, and the first built in hard drive...but yet this power did nothing for sales.
This time is different. The 360 had a full year to build a lead, and the Wii came out of nowhere to dominate the market. The ps3 has had over 2 years to play catch up and has failed to gain any ground with the exception of when MGS4 came out, and that was only temporary. The ps3 may outsell the 360 some months, but the margin is so small that they have very little chance of passing the 360 for 2nd place.

[make_or_break]

Yeah, what about next year?

That's been the PS3's problem all along: the PROMISE of great games down the road. MGS4 was a pretty good title, as is Resistance 2, but few other exclusives to the system have been worth it. I still use my PS3, but it WAS a hefty entry fee for my 80GB+MGS4 bundle with little value in the meantime, particularly since I don't buy into the long-term survival of Blu-ray.

As for processing power: for such a "state of the art" console, why is it that whenever I get eight or more cars in Gran Turismo 5 Prologue on the screen at the same time, the frame rate goes all jittery on me and for a brief moment losing that HD display makes the game momentarily unplayable? Yeah, that Cell architecture is really impressive...not.

[brettak81]

zoser42 are you kidding me?!???? you honestly believe that the average person is going digital for movies?

dude you have a warped sense of reality. for techies and nerds yes they may enjoy the idea of going to dorky websites and download movies, or get one of those streaming boxes that store the media for you so you can watch on a tv.

but let's get real. an average, NORMAL person uses dvd's as the media of choice now and most likely at least the next 10 years.

sony is a corporate genius. it knows exactly what it's doing. the ps3 will be going strong for years to come. the xbox is old technology.

[Notoapplefanbois]

Brettak, just because it has blu-ray doesn't mean it's going to last, especially since quite a few people are now doubting blu-ray's future because of price.

And it has long been known why microsoft went for a dvd drive instead of HD DVD drive's, because you don't need the extra space, Crysis, one of the most demanding games out there and one of the highest quality games can fit on a single 9gb DVD.

[David Turner]

I love the list of games that you mention. Apart from Little Big Planet most of these games all attract a certain kind of player (hardcore) and that is one that loves violence and killing. Personally I am kind of bored of these games now days.

I have neither the time nor interest to learn the control mechanisms and the few times I have I haven't found it very rewarding for the time invested. Now I know lots of people love these games and I am not saying they should not be just that a little choice other then just killing and violence based games would go a long way.

Personally I think that is one of the reasons why the Wii got so much buy in. It has a different kind of game which generally aren't to hard to play or get started and generally you can have a lot of fun. I would buy the PS3 at the current price but the variety of games is just not there for me. I am hoping it time it will as its a lovely bit of kit.

[Ugotownedo]

@notoapplefanbois,

While I am glad that Microsoft didn't put in a Bluray drive, you make it sound like it's completely unnecessary. Some devs like Rockstar have already said they wish they had more room. Some devs just want more room, but others actually NEED it, like id Software. A while ago, they said that even 2 DVDs are not enough for their upcoming game, Rage, and that the costs of shipping on 3 discs is too large, so the quality of the graphics (mainly texture resolution) on the 360 will be worse than the PS3 version, specifically because the DVD format can't hold enough data. Google it if you want to.

And you also said "you don't need the extra space, Crysis, one of the most demanding games out there and one of the highest quality games can fit on a single 9gb DVD."

Yeah, it can, but only because it's compressed a lot. That's why there's an install, so the game can be extracted. Total game size is actually 12 GB.

[bbaco]

I was going to get a PS3 when the price drop came, but since I bought stand alone Blu Ray player this xmas, I have no need for 2 game consoles in the house.

I think its a little too late for the PS3. Besides the bigest pain is that me and my friends are all on xbox live, so moving to the ps3 for gaming, most of friends will not be there to join in.

[twriter]

Wasn't sure I'd need a PS3 anymore as Blu-Ray player prices are coming down, and I have a Wii and an XBox 360 (the latter won in a contest. I was a PlayStation fan until I found out how much fun the Wii is), bit with my eye on a good Onkyo home theater system to replace my current cheapie (one with 4 HDMI inputs and full video and sound pass through), if this price drop turns out to be real, I'll put off the Blu-ray player and add a PS3 to my arsenal in April (or May).

[sjschaef]

If it drops to $300 I will get one as a Blu-Ray player.. I have been waiting to get one and I was planning on spending no more than $300... why not get a gaming system and online content with it that is upgradable to all Blu-Ray standards?

[Lemon5]

Wow, well, this is really forcing my hand here. I wanted a PS3 (Hello! Resistance, MGS4, Uncharted, Rachet and Clank. I can go on. O, and free online that is good!), and now this is going to make it even easier.

[M_cKade]

The PS3 had an amazing year in 2008. And 2009 is looking just as good. I agree somewhat with funyun2. The Zune had a shaky start, and everyone heard they sucked. Now, even though they are updated and are just as good as the competition or even better, people won't give them a chance. The PS3 had a shaky start, but look at it now. MGS4 is probably the greatest game ever created. Killzone 2, God of War 3, and Uncharted 2 make one of the greatest lineup of game releases in a long time and the 360 will not be getting any of these awesome titles. Now, being the multi-console owner that I am and loving all 3 (Wii, 360 and PS3) I can't say that the 360 won't have an amazing year in 2009. Halo 3 ODST, Halo Wars will be greatly praised among 360 owners. And let's not forget what the 360 has already given us. Halo 3, Gears, Gears 2, Mass Effect.:)
I am tired of people bashing on the PS3 and saying "It's too expensive, there aren't any good games, and the online sucks." This was true during their shaky beginning, but people just need to give the PS3 a chance and stop saying how badly it sucks if you don't even own one. If you own one, and you have MGS4, Resistance 2, LittleBigPlanet, and Uncharted, and you still don't like the PS3, then let the rest of us enjoy these great games while you play Wii sports or Halo.

[make_or_break]

Not so amazing. It started out the year by outselling the 360, but ended the year with a whimper, even being outsold by the 360 on its traditionally strong home turf of JAPAN months straight. I never would've seen that coming, except for the fact that Sony's performance in its entirety is sucking so badly these days.

Sony should've dropped the price back in November, before the holiday rush. They know full well that the games are where the money is made; certainly it isn't Blu-ray sales, which even with the best performing BD title still lags far behind old-tech DVD. Considering how poorly the rest of Sony is performing, you have to wonder just what the hell is going on with that company's operations braintrust.

[IGNJohn44]

@ make_or_break, you seriously have your news all twisted up. The xbox360 outsold PS3 in japan during the 6 months leading up to the last week of November 2008. It took the PS3 one WEEK to out sell the XBOX360 entire 6 months run even with the Xbox360 price cut. You Sony haters are just sad, at least state the correct FULL facts if you're trying to bash it.

[syn079]

I don't understand why everyone has to be either on one side of the fence or the other. It seems like everyone wants to defend their decision to buy their respective systems after they have bought one. In my opinion the price drop for the PS3 is a judgment call by Sony. I?m sure that they have some number crunchers trying to decide what is more profitable, the current price and sales or the projected profit and from more sales with a lower price. I have an Xbox 360 now and am about to buy the PS3. PS3 finally has enough exclusive content to make it worth the buy for a 360 owner. I will still buy most games on the 360 though because of the better online community. Unless Sony can take advantage of all the PS3's processing power and actually make a multiplatform game look obviously better than it does on the 360. I'm still on the verge and the price drop would defiantly convince me to get a PS3

[heedshot]

I own a PS3...and i consider buying a 360...It just amazes me that they get millions of people to pay to network game...If i had bought a 360 when I bought my PS3 i would have paid 200 dollars more for it now then i did for my ps3 because of live. yea it may be a better community but i want online gaming...but rarely play so i dont need the best community i just want the free one. and silver just doesnt cut it. but thats my take...also the Ps3 needs another price cut it needs more people to buy it. Bluray makes a huge difference yes Crisis is a good dame and really detailed but so is MGS4 and its like a billion times longer. disk size in the end really does matter


to make a side note for all those digital guys the PS3 has an interchangeable 2.5" hdd where you have to buy the expensive xbox hdd and you ant save movies to it...you can to the ps3

[latiger92]

Thats good but they need to bring the price of games down to bout $50

[Imalittleteapot]

Maybe if I was younger or still into gaming as much as I was years ago. Now, my magic price point is about $75. Anymore than that it can sit on the shelf. Guess I'm getting too old!

[billeeyum]

If I had 300 bucks to spend I would buy a 300 dollar PS3. If I had 400 bucks to spend, i wouldn't buy a ps3. 400 bucks is just to much money. I would buy a stand alone bluray player and use the extra 200 bucks to build up my bluray library.

[sgtfields]

well, I have all the systems. PS3 is a great system, but so is the 360. Sony has always made their products the most expensive. I remember when my family had nothing but Sony in the house, great products, but shelf life was terrible. Products didn't last 5 years. They have gotten better though, and if they just bring down the prices a little more, then they will seel like hotcakes. I never bought my PS3, it was a gift. I was waiting for another price break and then buy it, but it was a gift. i do hipe they improve their online content and gaming. Even with broadband, internet is slow on the PS3. Bluray is great! That is pretty much what I will primarily use my PS3 for, with the exception of some exclusive content and games.

[make_or_break]

360s break too often. When they run right they're great. Gears Of War 2 finally brought my old early release 360 Premium to its knees. At least I got almost three good years out of it.

I've been less than impressed w/ my PS3. HD read errors, system hangups, jittery graphics when displaying fast motion, both with BD movies and in hi-res HD games. Seems that with every system update its performance gets worse.

And talk about optical disc read problems...that's my Wii for you. Never had that problem with my Gamecube...or with my PS2 and original Xbox, for that matter.

[Zoobie]

@make_or_break

What are you doing to your systems to make them all break?

[viper7447]

ok first off I am not what they call a fanboy cuz honestly i'm to old for that. my opinion come a place of just place of plain logic. The only problem I have is people fail to compare even systems and what I mean by that is just this. Do not compare a stripped down XBox360 for $199 without wireless, without a harddrive, and without access to the xbox Live network. now by my math at a min you looking at about ...hmm lets see $199.99 for the high advertised arcade edition, then $99.99 for the Xbox 360 Wireless Networking Adapter, oh and $99.99 for the 60GB Live Starter Pack for Xbox 360 and finally to really enjoy playing those fine games online i need access to xbox live so just toss in a extra $69.99. ok so whats our final total... (Drum Roll.......) $469.99!!! which if i'm correct that's about $69.99 more then a playstation 3. you know with extra $69.99 i could buy a game or maybe 2 greatest hits games cuz i love a bargain. now some may say well you don't need the wireless which is true IF your system is near your modem or router otherwise.. YES YOU DO!!... only if you plan on playing online. all i'm saying people is be fair in comparing because i can show you a stripped down Nissan Altima and say it just as great as the fully loaded with all the the bells and whistles Altima but we both know thats a lie. Now i will say that this is a parting shot. when i do get tired of playing games cuz it does happen i can always sit back and look at Ironman on my 46inch Sony LCD HD TV. Did i mention that the movie was in FULL 1080P cuz it on BLU-RAY? yeah cuz my PS3 does that too so i also saved about a min of $299.00 based on entry level Sony BLU-Ray player. Oh and if the price drop is true thats even better.

[bajanx]

Whatever Viper, you can't compare it like that to gamers. I paid for an Elite at $399, a wireless adapter at $99, and pay $49.99 every yr for a gold membership. Ok that adds up to $550 dollars and i don't have a Bluray player, but i will tell you what I have. An awesome console that offers great games, an online community and an online presence thats light-years above the competition, and i don't need Bluray cause i can DL Movies in HD and they look beautiful on my Panisonic 42'' Plasma and 80'' screen(HD Projector), truly effiecient console. You get so much from this console and MSFT just keep adding the feautures. I sold my PS3 because i collected dust and gave my wii to my niece and nephew for the same reason. The PS3 is just not the console of choice right now. Sony is way behind and have pissed off so many of they fans. Maybe if they went games first and not bluray player, maybe it would have better. I still have my PS2(Awesome system). Sony should be ashamed of themselves to let the newcomer MSFT thump them this way. My2cents!!

[Notoapplefanbois]

Viper that's called not looking at all your choices, if you buy a pro in the UK right now and look at all your options you'll be finished at around £220, which against the PS3's £299.99, doesn't look that bad, sure if you want an external blu-ray player then they're about £70 so that's £290 so it really is a better choice to get an xbox 360 where I live.

[the_iceman]

300 is the magic price point? Not to me, it's 200$, so I'll continue to wait. Hey Sony, rip the spendy blu-ray player out if you must to cut costs, just don't ignore your customer base by dropping PS2 compatibility. Don't forget where you came from, basically.

[simon222333]

I am sick and tired of people bashing the PS3 when they have never owned one or can't afford to own both systems. I have the PS3 and 360 and have not touch the 360 since Jan 08, when I purchased my PS3. I don't see the need to pay for online gaming when the same exact game I can purchase on the PS3 and online gaming is free. I play mostly sport games and they're are available on both, actually 360 owners wish they could play MLB The Show, but there stuck with the crappy MLB 2K8. Not to mention the freaking garbage 360 keeps on freezing!

[bajanx]

You are clearly fanboy then because they is no way i can see this. First of al, l i have owned all three systems. I can tell you there is no comparison when it comes to these consoles online services. Yes one is free but you definitely get what you pay for. I find it funny that most of my friend have both the PS3 and the 360 but they all buy online games for the 360 and only use the PS3 for exlcusives and Bluray. I was also in that group but i started DLing HD movies and found myself using the PS3 even less. So for me there was no need to keep it.(Not enough exclusives)

[cncsnyder]

" I don't see the need to pay for online gaming when the same exact game I can purchase on the PS3 and online gaming is free."

??? You sound as though you've never used a 360! XBox LIVE isn't just about multiplayer gaming; it's a source for HD content, arcade games, and recently the ability to stream Netflix movies...previous postings have mention that it's too late for PS3 and Blu-Ray...I can watch HD movies anytime without an additional hardware purchase...Netflix is now offering streaming HD movies...all at a fraction of what it would cost me to purchase a PS3! I agree...PS3 is cutting the cost entirely too late in the game to make a difference...They already lost valuable market share to Nintendo and Microsoft.

[IGNJohn44]

bajanx you talk as if xbox360 has much more BETTER exclusives than the PS3. Xbox has the halo series and gears, and what other good exclusive games do they have? I've played fable 2 due to the hype and it didn't live up to it. I've also played PS3's resistance 2 and it didn't live up to the hype either. Both consoles have the same multiplatform games. 3rd party game developers are just now getting used to the PS3's architecture and are changing their main development console using the PS3 first in 09 instead of 360 in 06, 07, and 08. Talk about accusing others of being a fanboy.

[TheGeekReview]

@cncsnyder

Yea Netflix is streaming movies but HD only if you have a very high speed connection on mine it looks like a bad VHS transfer. And, they are not streaming the extra content which is the reason I buy DVD and BluRay.

[bajanx]

IGNjohn i never mentioned anything about the 360's exclusives and yes you are right it has but a few more exclusive, but the quality if of most of those exclusive are excellent. Listen, all i was trying to say is that the 360 is simply a better package for a gamer in MY OPINION. You get alot more from Live than you do from PSN, and rightly so because we pay for it. I really don't see or hear people with the 360 complaining about the fee anymore like you use to. I believe this is because people are seeing that they are getting a quality product and experience for a value price. My2cents!

[IGNJohn44]

Bajanx you say "You get alot more from Live than you do from PSN" yes i know it's your own opinion, but to me like the PSN is more organized and offers nothing less than that of the xboxLive (besides the live's game matchup), but the PSN stability in game doesn't come crashing down when the hoster has an unstable connection like that of the Live's mechanic. Just my opinion.

PS: i'm skeptical that you even have a PS3 now.. since it seems like you don't even know the PSN offers up to date HD-DL and HD-Streaming rentals of movies.. hm...

[make_or_break]

A discount three months from now is too little, too late; hell, a discount right now is already too late. Give up groceries for a gaming console, when a layoff notice might be around the corner? Don't think so...

Besides, has Sony even been WATCHING what the global economic state is NOW, let alone three months from this point? (Most experts seem to think it'll be considerably worse.) Even if the average family could afford to drop three C notes for a PS3 (assuming that's what the new price point will be), just how often does Sony think that they'll be back down at the local Gamestop to pick up new game titles, where the money is REALLY made?

[thisislovell]

make_or_break: If they do drop the price in April, it should be right around tax refund time, when families will actually have some extra money to spend. I wouldn't be surprised if they went ahead and make the price drop officially on tax day. And if there's another stimulus package sent out? There's a good chance that there will be a good deal of disposable income come April/May.